Seven Consulting allows staff to vote on Covid-19 measures
Seven Consulting, a consulting firm specialised in program and project delivery, has taken a number of measures to counter the impact of the covid-19-induced downturn.
The specialist consultancy has a workforce of around 100 across offices in Sydney and Melbourne, generating to the tune of $25 million in revenues.
Facing lower demand for its services, Seven Consulting’s leadership team led by founder Declan Boylan and managing director Gareth James have enacted a number of responses. However, contrary to the top-down process followed at most consulting firms, Seven Consulting pursued a democratic approach, allowing all staff to vote on their preferred cost-saving measures.
One of the measures implemented is taking paid leave when consultants are not chargeable for a client. According to James, currently 10% of the consultants team are “on the bench” and have been asked to take time off.
Another measure focuses on the reduction of total remuneration. Staff have agreed to accept a pay cut of up to 6% of their salary, with the final number depending on company performance in the current financial year. The pay of the owners (i.e. partners) has been cut by between 10% and 50%.
Commenting on the decision to have owners take a more than proportionate hit, James told AFR: “Ultimately, as an owner of an organisation, you understand that there is a risk and it comes with ownership. Ultimately, we think that having happy and engaged staff is a unique selling point for us as an organisation, both as an employer and also a consultancy to engage.”
Seven Consulting, founded in 2002, takes responsibility for program delivery and/or program office management, as well as for related services such as external program reviews or delivery capability uplift. The firm works for clients such as CBA, NAB, Macquarie, City of Melbourne, BNP Paribas, Equifax and Woolworths.
Since the national lockdown, the consultancy has seen its mix of work shift as clients pause some programs, and reassess their portfolio priorities amid the pandemic. Helping clients with the latter process has surged, with demand for this type of support nearly doubling over the past seven weeks.
